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Dave Lindbergh's avatar

I suspect widespread mental illness (esp. depression) is due to our living conditions being so different from the environment we evolved in.

We're adapted to life in small tribes of hunter-gatherers, where we knew everyone, were constantly on the move outdoors, and didn't work all that hard.

Today we live in a "big society" where we constantly interact with (and are sometimes dependent on) strangers. We sit (and push buttons) instead of walking. We spend most of our lives indoors instead of outdoors.

Considering all that, I find it surprising how well we cope.

Of course, none of that has anything to do with capitalism, except to the extent that capitalism enabled modern industrial society.

I suspect ems will have it much easier than we do, just as we have it easier than our farmer forbearers.

(Agriculture was worse than we have it. Constant back breaking repetitive physical labor, unvaried diet, restrictions on travel, etc.)

Ems will live in environments that can be tailored to be more like the ancestral one, without all the inconveniences (disease, hunger, predators, bad weather, war...). They'll have access to all the advantages of industrial society (culture, intellectual stimulation, remote communications, machine assistance, access to expertise, environmental controls...) without most of the disadvantages. They'll be selected for compatibility with the em environment. And maybe some mental changes can be made in ems to make them better suited to that environment.

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RobinHanson's avatar

Our ancestors faced far stronger competition than do we today, and their mental illness rate was manageable. Why would the fact that em competition takes place within "capitalism" change much?

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